Occasions
by Amelia Kay
Summary: Four ficlets, all set in S1, all gen (though II and IV have TheoJeremiah and MarkusJeremiah subtext, respectively). Kurdy, Jeremiah, Theo, Markus and Erin all make appearances.


I. Before

The crackle of the fire made for an odd kind of punctuation to the cricket chirps all around them. Kurdy lazily tossed a random twig in, glancing at Jeremiah. His friend lay on the forest floor, glimpsing whatever he could of the night sky through the trees overhead.

"You know what I miss most from before?" Kurdy asked, apropos of nothing.

"The possibilities are endless," Jeremiah deadpanned, not looking away.

His friend shook his head and sighed. "Air conditioner, man. Fucking air conditioner. It's like, you can fend off the cold. Put on a bunch of layers and gloves and shit. You can wear all your clothes and keep warm. But if it's hot out, you could be running around buck naked and you'd still be sweating buckets. Ain't nothin' you can do about it."

"Can't argue with that," Jeremiah agreed.

"Fucking sucks. I hate sweating like that, you know?"

"Yeah, man, I know."

II. Yet

"Hey!" Theo cried, practically radiating indignation. "I said wait up, motherfucker! You deaf on top of stupid now?"

Jeremiah sighed inwardly and glanced behind him, but didn't slow down his gait. He couldn't let Theo set the pace, or it'd take them weeks to get back to Thunder Mountain. If ever, knowing Calamity Jane's track record over there.

"Keep up, sweetheart," he told her, voice drier than sand. "This ain't a scenic tour."

"Excuse me," Theo scoffed... but she jogged to catch up anyway. "Add 'blind' to 'deaf and stupid' if you can't see a sister's gonna have a harder time trekking over this goddamn terrain in three inch heels. Insensitive asshole."

Jeremiah ducked his head, biting back a smirk.

"Don't you laugh at me," she said, smacking him on the shoulder. "I may be in pain right now, but at least I rest easy in the knowledge that I look a whole helluva lot better than you do."

"Maybe," Jeremiah conceded, keeping his gaze straight ahead. And maybe, just maybe, he picked up his pace a little.

"Oooh, I just love a sweet talker," she huffed, her face the very picture of earnestness for the briefest of moments, before she went back to scowling. "I said, slow the fuck down! Don't make me have to hurt you. I may not make as good a first impression on your boys at the End of the World if I bring your mangled ass to the door with me."

This time Jeremiah couldn't keep from rolling his eyes at her. "Please. Hurt me, my ass."

She grinned at him, all teeth and teasing. "Your ass, indeed. It's your best feature, honey."

"How many times I gotta tell ya - I ain't interested," he said, and she laughed outright at his sudden shift in expression.

"Don't worry, baby, I ain't offerin'," she said, eyes flashing. "Yet."

III. Interim

"You know what I wonder?" Kurdy asked. He folded his hands on his chest and glanced at Jeremiah's still form on the other side of the fire. "I figure, like, two hundred years ago, pioneers and shit, they didn't have much more to work with than we do right now."

"Probably less," Jeremiah murmured.

"Probably way less," Kurdy agreed, "And they built a whole country out of that. What the fuck is our problem? Most of us can hardly keep ourselves alive."

"The difference is," Jeremiah said, turning his back to Kurdy, "The pioneers didn't know what they were missing."

IV. Segue

"I know you're there, Erin," Markus said, voice mild. He didn't lift his gaze from the book in front of him. "You might as well come in."

Erin let out a breath before she stepped out of the doorway and took the chair next to him. She started to speak several times, but stopped herself, unsure where to begin. After a few moments of expectant silence, Markus raised his eyes to study her expression.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No, no, nothing's wrong," she said. "It's just."

"Ah. The strangers."

She looked relieved at that. "Yes. I think... I think you should consider making an offer."

"What do they possibly have to offer us," he asked, "Except frivolous dilution of our resources, perhaps waves of mayhem, confusion, chaos - and I think we've all had quite enough mayhem and chaos to last several lifetimes each. Don't you think so?" Markus's voice rarely changed in tone or dynamics, but after all these years, she could recognize a guarded edge in it when she heard one. Still, the fact that he was still listening was promising.

"I think," she said, very carefully, "That progress always means change, and that change always hurts a little at first. I understand that, believe me, I do. But we could use people with their savvy on our side, Markus." She leaned forward, eyes shining. "A lot of us came from that world, but that was a long time ago for most of us. I've gotten spoiled by this place, I'll be the first to admit it. You could say I've lost my outside-world callouses." He smiled at that, so she went on: "I just think - Jeremiah's different from all the others who've come knocking on our doors. I think he could be... a part of us here."

Markus nodded slowly to all of this, the corners of his lips turning up slightly. "You find him intriguing." It wasn't as much of a question as it was an observation.

She pressed her lips into a determined line. "Maybe I do. Maybe you do, too." And the only way she could tell she'd landed a hit was his neutral blink. "But this is beyond anything like that. There's something about these guys... I don't know. We need them. Call it a gut feeling."

He steepled his hands, regarding her. "You're suggesting that I risk quite a lot, for a gut feeling."

She stood and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know what? I think your gut agrees with mine." She slipped quietly out of the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts once more.

-END-


End file.
